


brand new eyes

by agrestenoir



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Photography, What else can there be???, two girls in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 19:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12824172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrestenoir/pseuds/agrestenoir
Summary: Chloe doesn't mean to fall in love with Alya. It happens anyway.





	brand new eyes

**Author's Note:**

> A commission for the lovely kaligulas!  
> Feel free to check out more of my work on my blog, @agrestenoir.

 

i.

Chloe doesn’t remember falling in love with Alya.

If anything, there’s just a moment when they’re sitting next to each other, and Chloe looks up, catching sight of Alya against the backdrop of the Parisian sunset, and suddenly the world turns quiet. _I love you_ , she thinks as she stares at her, all wind-kissed cheeks and wide eyes from their race through the city. _I love you, and I always have._

ii.

It starts with photography, of all things.

Managing the Ladyblog has turned into more of a chore than a hobby, and even as she fights to write about her experiences or vlog about the latest events, Alya just can’t seem to meet the demands of her fan following. Chloe should know, as she stalks the blog on the regular to learn more about her favorite superheroes and has browsed through the hundreds of comments left on every post. For as good as she is, Alya’s only talent comes from writing. Her videos and poor quality of pictures do not appease the fans, and Chloe is tired of waiting for the light to click on for the journalist.

“I’ve gotta do everything myself,” Chloe grumbles as she perches on the corner of the rooftop of the Le Grand Paris. With the downward trend Alya’s been going on, Chloe knows the blog might be at risk for deletion, and Chloe Bourgeois will absolutely  _ not stand  _ to see her favorite blog be taken down; where else would she get her primetime Ladybug content?

It’s clear Alya needs her.

Camera in hand, she scans the Paris skyline until she locks on two forms in the distance, whipping around buildings on a yo-yo string and vaulting over chimneys with a baton. She waits until they’re in view, the image sharp and in focus, and she snaps a quick photo. Before Ladybug and Chat Noir can disappear, she takes a dozen or so more pictures, and once satisfied, she uploads them to a flash drive.

The next day, Chloe hands Alya the flash drive without a word of explanation. “Thought you could use this,” she tells the blogger. “You need all the help you can get honestly. I don’t know how you’ve survived this long without me.”

For the next week, Alya displays the photographs on the front page of the Ladyblog. Once she’s run out of photographs, Alya asks Chloe for some more, and for some odd reason, the blonde agrees and submits more pictures the next morning.

They never speak more than a few murmurs of Alya’s gratitude and Chloe’s quiet appreciation for the Ladyblog.

And so it continues until the tagline at the bottom of the front page of the Ladyblog reads “ © 2017 _ Alya Cesaire  & Chloe Bourgeois _ ”.

iii.

Chloe takes on the reign of Queen Bee when the call for help arises, joining Ladybug and Chat Noir on the city rooftops as they defend Paris from evil and the rest of the melodrama that comes with being a teenage superhero. When Rena Rouge joins up, it gives her someone to rely on. Both are new, fumbling through the steps of a dance that Ladybug and Chat Noir have long since mastered. They spend long nights on the Paris streets, learning their powers and each other, because if Ladybug and Chat Noir are partners, then they need to be too.

If she must provide a concrete answer as to why she accepted the job, Chloe chooses to blame duty. So here she stands, duty-bound and driven, just like her father to mayor Paris, just like Ladybug and Chat Noir to protect people, just like Alya to run the Ladyblog…

If there’s one thing she’s learned over the past few months helping Alya run the Ladyblog, it’s that sometimes she really is the only one who can do it. People depend on people like her, and who is she to turn away when they need her? She is the only reason Paris remains standing half the time anyway.

The only downside of spending so much time as Queen Bee is that she can’t provide pictures of the heroes for Alya as frequently as before.

It hurts her, more deeply than it should have, when Alya corners her after class one day and asks hesitantly, almost unsure, “Are you going to send me anymore pictures?”

What is Chloe supposed to say?  _ I became a superhero and don’t have the time. Sorry, loser, but you’re on your own? _

The Ladyblog is Alya’s reason, her lifeblood—something she’s spent hours and days and months crafting to perfection. Chloe knows this, and somehow through matters she hadn’t meant to spur into play, Alya has given her a piece of it too.

_ © _ _ 2017 _ _ Alya Cesaire  & Chloe Bourgeois _

“No, of course not,” Chloe tells her, waving her hand in a flippant gesture in front of Alya’s face. “My camera broke, I’m getting a new one. You don’t need to be so demanding.”

Alya bits her bottom lip. “Thank you.”

Chloe freezes, and a soft smile slowly stretches across her face. “What’re friends for, Cesaire?”

Chloe brings her camera to the next patrol, much to Ladybug’s protest, but she doesn’t care. After becoming Queen Bee, Ladybug has lost her charm as an idol, and is now resigned to a teammate, an ally, a somewhat annoying friend that Chloe’s grown to care for. After they finish patrol, Chloe begs the rest of her team to stick around so that she could gather a few snapshots for “a friend”. Rena Rouge is more than happy to help, Ladybug a bit begrudgingly agrees, and Chat Noir laughs and asks who the “lucky lady” is.

Chloe kicks him off the top of the Eiffel Tower.

“So a ‘lucky lady?’” Rena Rouge teases, nudging Chloe with her elbow. “You in love, Bee?”

“Something like that,” Chloe tells her honestly. After snapping a few more shows, she sits down on a metal beam, legs hooking around one of the struts, and clicks through the images, letting out an appreciate hum.

Rena Rouge swings down beside her, grasping the metal strut to keep her balance on the beam. “Can I see them?” she asks, referring to Chloe’s pictures.

Chloe pauses, camera clasped tight in her hands, and tries to form a proper response. Her photography, unlike much of what she does, isn’t something she broadcasts to the rest of the world. What she gives Alya for the Ladyblog is pieces she’s critically gone over and edited to the best of her ability. She’s never let anyone see the raw footage before.

But the look on Rena Rouge’s face, like she actually  _ cares _ about what Chloe does, seals the deal.

“Knock yourself out,” she says, handing Rena Rouge her camera. Shoulders tense, she watches warily for the other hero’s reaction because Chloe Bourgeois refuses to sit idly by if she’s just going to be torn down. “I already know they’re good though.”

Rena Rouge accepts the camera with a murmur of thanks, an eager smile stretching across her face. Chloe watches the smile slowly fade, lips dropping in a small  _ oh  _ of surprise, as Rena Rouge studies the picture, a stupid sunset full of purples and pinks. It’s something Chloe could’ve taken in her sleep, just a boring old scenic shot that anyone with a camera could capture, and it cries mournfully into the late evening air.

A laugh falls from Rena Rouge. “These are… unbelievable.” By now, Ladybug and Chat Noir have joined them, perched on either side as they stare at Chloe’s pictures. “These are… You’re really talented.”

“I know,” Chloe says because she feels like she has to, but inside something burns deep. She hopes Alya feels the same way.

Rena Rouge rests a soft hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “These are really good. Trust me, I know a photographer who’d say the same thing. Your friend is going to love these.”

Numbly, Chloe takes the camera back from Rena Rouge. “I hope so,” she murmurs, voice low and rough. “I hope so.”

She just wants Alya to like them.

(She just wants Alya to like her).

iv.

When she presents the photographs to Alya the next day, the other girl wastes no time in hooking them up to her laptop and uploading them to the Ladyblog. “Thanks, girl. People have been asking for these  _ all  _ week.”

“People can wait for perfection,” Chloe says, not unkindly, and sits on the edge of the desk, waiting for Alya’s reaction. It’s the first time she snapped photos up close, and she’s eager to hear what the other girl has to say. “They’re a little different…”

There’s silence as Alya looks at the pictures. Her eyes flicker between the laptop screen and Chloe as she struggles to form a sentence. “Do you know… I mean, how did you…”

“Are they that bad?” Chloe asks, cocking her head.

Alya stares at her then,  _ really  _ stares at her. “Are you….” Voice lowering into a whisper, she asks, “Are you Queen Bee?”

There’s silence once more, and the only sound is each other’s heart beats, banging in their chests from the shock and revelations. “W-What?” Chloe laughs. “That’s a stupid thing to say. What makes you think I’d be a superhero?”

“Because I’ve seen these before,” Alya hisses. “I saw them last night when Queen Bee was taking them.”

Chloe’s breath catches in her throat. “You’re Rena—”

“I’m the friend,” Alya says with growing horror. “I’m the friend you were taking the pictures for, your lucky lady, oh god, oh  _ god, you like me _ —” Hysteria is slowly setting in, and Chloe can hear it in the growing panic of Alya’s voice.

She acts on the first thought that enters her mind.

She reaches forward, cups Alya’s jaw, and kisses her to shut her up.

It works.

Alya’s lips are warm, and after the shock, she begins to  _ kiss back _ and that is  _ not  _ what Chloe’s intention was, but who is she to argue? After a few moments of silence, of kisses and revelations, they pull away and sit back in their seats in the empty classroom.

“You’re Queen Bee,” Alya repeats in awe, shock still filtering through her. “You like me.”

Chloe can only shrug. “Yes,” she says. “To all of the above.”

v.

Back on the Eiffel Tower, donning the masks and camera, Alya leans against Chloe’s chest as they stare out over the slumbering city. “Why made you like me anyway?” she asks curiously. “We used to hate each other.”

Chloe shrugs against the cool metal pressing into her back. “I don’t know,” she answers honestly. “I guess, in the beginning, you needed me, and… somewhere along the lines, I realized I needed you too. You sort of gave me… a reason, I guess? I actually wouldn’t have agreed to be Queen Bee if it wasn’t for you.”

Alya perks up, gaze resting on Chloe. “Really?”

Chloe smiles because she know shoe easy it had been for Alya to slip on the mask. “Yeah,” she tells her, “You taught me a few things about duty. I couldn’t say no after that.”

“Well I’m glad,” Alya says, resting her head in the crook of Chloe’s neck, pressing her nose against the warm skin. “It wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

“Yeah,” Chloe echoes. “It wouldn’t.”

Together, they watch the lights blink out in the city as people turn in for the night, but they choose to stay on the Eiffel Tower, long after patrol. Pressed against each other, together at last, Chloe tries to imagine her life without Alya. The truth is, though, she can’t. And somehow that’s the most important thing.

_ I love you _ , she thinks.  _ You changed my life, and I love you for that. _

Someday, she know she’ll tell Alya, but for now, she’s content to just to hold onto the other girl.

She has all the time in the world.

 


End file.
